Of Beast and Beauty

Stacey Jay

In Stacey’s (Romeo Redeemed 2012) fantasy/science-fiction retelling of Beauty and the Beast, 17-year old blind Princess Isra of the Smooth Skins is raised to be a human
sacrifice to protect her people in the city of Yuan. In the desert outside the city, 19-year-old Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Isra wants to help them and enlists the aid of Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal the enchanted roses. She begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe. Neither dreams that together, they can return balance to both their worlds.